Do you have a Pre- Crisis plan sketched out yet?

The term crisis is enough to send chills down the veins of many managers and executives, scurrying back to their cabins and burying their heads behind a desk so that they can be overlooked. One event if not handled properly can set the company back several years.

As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, but only 5 minutes to lose it. If you think about that you will do things differently”.

It may not be possible to predict every disaster or impact that is going to strike your company but it is essential to deal with it in an organized manner, when disaster strikes out of the blue.

Pre-crisis management is a preventative tool. Not only does it avoid a crisis but also helps you and your team to manage the crisis in an efficient manner.

What makes up a crisis? Anything from defective products, illegal employee activities, strikes, government litigations, and natural disasters. So in order to deal with the unknown, it’s essential to make a plan and look at it practically.

Step 1: Identify your vulnerabilities

Identify that factor which your company is most susceptible to. Example you are an Oil refinery company. Needless to say there are many aspects you are prone to: Environmental pollution, untreated domestic effluents into the sea, adulteration etc. Now the answer to that is apt waste disposal system, regular checks and measurement levels of oil refinery and a strong relationship with the government.

Step 2: Develop a pre – crisis management team, comprising of directors, employees and legal advisors who are capable of handling situations and proficient in tackling situations like this.

Note that it is not just the in house members who will come nifty during times of trouble. It is important to be in good terms with the external environment also. Your public relations team and legal advisories will give you some golden advice to tackle such situations.

Step 3: Keep tabs on the media. Make sure you are in good terms with them as they are capable of tearing your whole company apart, or, covering up the whole situation for you.

Step 4: Back your work through recorded data and statistics. If you have data backing your statements, it saves you great deal of trouble.

Step 5: As the saying goes “Prevention is better than cure” , make sure that your ethical policies are set in the right place. Leading companies as well as developing companies need to develop and abide by a Bonafide set of policies on which they strive.

This would pretty much take care of unwanted situations that need not be dealt with.